Carson baseball defeats South Tahoe

Aided by some renewed aggressiveness at the plate and the two-hit pitching of Jake Rasner, the Carson High School baseball team defeated South Tahoe 10-0 in the opener of a three-game Sierra League series on Thursday afternoon.

The Senators banged out seven hits, five for extra bases, on their way to victory in a game that was called in the fifth inning due to the 10-run rule at Ron McNutt Field. Carson improved to 3-1 in league (8-3) and South Tahoe fell to 0-4 (2-8).

Ten runs on the scoreboard came as a welcome sight for coach McNutt, whose Senators had only scored nine runs in three games Monday and Tuesday against Douglas and McQueen.

“We were swinging the bats better today,” McNutt said. “We were more aggressive — I think we only had one kid looking at a third strike today — so I thought we took a step forward today.”

Rasner allowed two hits and only four base runners overall to pick up the win. The 6-foot-5 sophomore right hander struck out five, walked one and hit one batter with a pitch.

“Jake had a good outing,” McNutt said. “I was pleased with that.”

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South Tahoe had one batter get as far as second base when Marcus McKinnon doubled down the left-field line with one out in the third inning. The rally was short-lived, though, because University of Nevada-bound catcher Owen Brolsma picked the runner off second and then Rasner rang up a strikeout to end the inning.

Carson took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Tony Teixeira doubled with two outs, stole third and scored on an error on.

The Senators broke it open with seven runs in the third. Mike Handley walked to lead off the inning, stole second and scored when Jon Teeter hit an off-field double to left field that sliced toward the line in the wind. Eric Melendez later hit a wind-blown two-run double to center field and Aaron Henry tripled off the right-field fence to drive another run home.

Willie Bowman doubled and scored Carson’s final run in the bottom of the fourth.

South Tahoe coach Doug Russell was upbeat about the performance of the Vikings afterward. Bobby Gienapp drew his first starting assignment and worked into the third inning before Shawn McLaughlin came on in relief. McLaughlin pitched the rest of the way.

“Carson is a strong baseball club,” Russell said. “I thought our starting pitcher threw pretty well. The wind knocked down a couple of fly balls, otherwise he might have gotten out of there with less damage.”

South Tahoe also had to play without top hitter and starting catcher A.J. Russo, who reinjured his left wrist when he was hit by a pitch Tuesday against Dayton. Diagnosed with a possible hairline fracture or severe bruise, the junior missed his first game in two seasons.

“Losing A.J. hampers us offensively and defensively. He won’t play Saturday, but we’re hoping to have him back on Monday,” Russell said.

Bryan Engler singled in the first inning to account for South Tahoe’s other base hit.

The two teams meet again Saturday in a 10 a.m. doubleheader scheduled at Todd Fields.

“This is the earliest we’ve played at home in five years,” said Russell, who is in his fifth season at the helm of South Tahoe’s program. “There have been years where we’ve only played four games at home, this we’re looking forward to this.”